Postoperative Delirium at Heidelberg's Intensive Care Unit -New Diagnostic Markers

Sponsor

Heidelberg University (Other)

Overall Status

Completed

CT.gov ID

NCT00463333

Collaborator

Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation (Other)

Location

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Summary:

Postoperative delirium is a highly prevalent disease (10-30% prevalence) after surgery in intensive care unit, however, it is often misdiagnosed and mistreated. The aim of the present project is to investigate risk factors for postoperative delirium in more detail, to evaluate respective cognitive test systems and to measure EEG activity parallel to patients' serum anticholinergic activity. The pathophysiology of delirium is unknown up to now: a possible dysbalance between cerebral acetylcholine and dopamine concentrations is a likely hypothesis. Therefore, the measurement of peripheral serum anticholinergic activity could be a new prognostic factor for evaluation of delirium. Because delirium is also associated with higher postoperative mortality and morbidity, with delayed functional recovery, and postoperative delirium makes patient management much more difficult, increases costs, and, above all, causes severe discomfort to the patient new interdisciplinary diagnostic strategies are necessary to resolve this problem.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Postoperative Delirium

Study Design

Study Type:

Observational

Observational Model:

Defined Population

Time Perspective:

Prospective

Study Start Date :

May 1, 2005

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years and Older

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Inclusion Criteria:

All patients at Intensive Care Unit over a defined time period
Over 18 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

Elective heart and vascular patients

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	Intensive Care Unit, Clinic of Anesthesiology	Heidelberg		Germany	69120

Sponsors and Collaborators

Heidelberg University
Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation

Investigators

Principal Investigator: Markus A Weigand, PhD, MD, Medical Faculty, Clinic of Anesthesiology, University of Heidelberg
Principal Investigator: Konstanze Plaschke, Prof., Clinic of Anesthesiology